Football Bet of the Day: French defences to crumble

St Etienne v Strasbourg
Wednesday 18:00

Some less than sterling work in Scotland yesterday, as Stirling beat Albion 1-0 in League Two to deny us our BTTS bet. We hope we've identified a more obliging pair on the other side of the Channel today. One of tonight's two Ligue 1 games pits sixth against ninth as St Etienne host Strasbourg.

Jean-Louis Gasset's hosts have the second-best home record in the league (W8-D2-L1), but Les Verts have had a relatively easy run. All of the bottom six have already been to Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. The fixtures are just starting to stiffen now: recent visits from fifth-placed Marseille and third-placed Lyon have brought a 2-1 win, then a maiden defeat (1-2).

Strasbourg arrive having scored more away goals (20 in 11 matches) than anyone else in Ligue 1 bar runaway leaders PSG. Both teams have scored in eight of their last nine road games, with Le Racing themselves striking 12 times in the most recent four. We expect Le Racing to be at the races again this evening.